The 997 transaction set, known as the Functional Acknowledgment is sent as a response to other EDI transactions received. A 997 serves as a receipt, to acknowledge that an EDI transaction, or a group of transactions, was received by the remote party.It is important to note that when you receive an EDI 997 in response to a transaction you sent previously, you only know that your document arrived and was processed by the recipient’s EDI translator.

At the most basic level, the acknowledgement will only contain an acceptance or rejection notification. However, the remote EDI translator will perform some validation of the EDI standards before responding. Therefore, at more advanced levels, some trading partners will send more detailed EDI 997s that describe individual elements that contain syntax errors when rejections occur.
It does not provide any indication that the trading partner agrees with the contents of the prior transaction, or that the transaction met all their business requirements. For example, a 997 sent in response to an EDI 810 (Invoice) transaction does not indicate that the pricing or terms in the invoice were accepted, only that that invoice transaction was received and identified.

The 855 transaction set is a Purchase Order Acknowledgement. It is used to confirm the receipt of a purchase order (EDI 850 transaction) from a buyer, eliminating the need to call for a confirmation. The 855 also communicates whether the PO was accepted, rejected or what changes may have been made to accepted orders by the seller. The 855 shows changes to the 850 as follows:

Accepted - no changes

Rejected

Accepted with Changes e.g. lower quantities of items available, items removed from order or even backordered items for a later shipment date

The EDI 860 transaction set represents the electronic Purchase Order Change Request. It is used by buyers to request a change to a purchase order (EDI 850) they previously submitted. The 860 may also be used by buyers to confirm their acceptance of changes to purchase orders made by the sellers (EDI 855).

This document is important for ensuring that the final order is accurate. The document provides information describing the original purchase order, as well as changes to that purchase order. Such as:

The EDI 856 transaction is more commonly called the the ASN. It is utilized to electronically communicate the contents of a shipment to another trading partner. It is sent in advance of a shipment arriving at the other trading partner’s facility. In addition to detailing the contents of a shipment, the EDI 856 transaction includes order information, descriptions of products, types of packaging used, carrier information and more. An ASN may provide information at a variety of levels, including:

Shipment information such as tracking numbers and carrier information

Order information such as purchase order numbers

Item information including items and quantities

Packaging information including such as barcodes printed on each carton

The EDI 856 may be the most complicated document to implement for suppliers. Each trading partner can have very different requirements, which puts the burden on the supplier to support many different formats. The ASN also becomes a data collection issue because of the volume of data points that must be captured and transmitted back to the trading partner. For example, each carton in a shipment may be assigned a unique barcode identifier that must be transmitted back to the trading partner.

The 810 Invoice is the electronic version of the paper-based invoice document. It is typically sent in response to an EDI 850 Purchase Order as a request for payment once the goods have shipped or services are provided. A vendor will generate an 810 invoice that usually contains the following:

The 846 transaction set is used to communicate inventory information between manufacturers, their suppliers and resellers. It is used in a number of ways, including:Information included in the 846 transaction set includes inventory location identification, item or part description, and quantities. The quantity of an item may be presented in a number of ways, including: